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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24750778">Teenage Troublemaker - Sticky fingers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostGirl27/pseuds/LostGirl27'>LostGirl27</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Little Troublemaker [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gilmore Girls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Logan being a Daddy, Lots of cuddles, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Spanking, Non-Sexual Spanking, Other, Parental fluff, lots of fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:14:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24750778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostGirl27/pseuds/LostGirl27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Little Lori Huntzberger gets herself into some sort of a sticky situation… also, lots of fluff and Logan being Daddy-ish. To be completely honest - I simply started to write with some little ideas in my mind but without an explicit idea on how to proceed, so I just went with the flow and wrote whenever I felt like it. Therefore, work is still in progress. </p>
<p>In here, Milo Huntzberger is about 12 years old, making the twins about 4. </p>
<p>Please note that there's some very mild discipline in the form of a few swats applied to a pre-schooler's bum in here, so if that's not your cup of tea, do not read. You've been warned!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Father/daughter relationship - Relationship, Logan Huntzberger/Original Character(s), Logan Huntzberger/Original Female Character(s), Rory Gilmore/Logan Huntzberger, siblings - Relationship, twins - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Little Troublemaker [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/325976</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Logan’s POV</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Hi, peanut” I greeted affably and with Lori’s special nickname while walking past where she was sitting at the table on her kid’s stool, peeking interestedly over her shoulder as she was busily scribbling away on a piece of paper with her precious glittering crayons, the ones she had gotten from Granny Lorelai for her fourth birthday last month. It was quite unusual to see Lori drawing highly concentrated and persistent like that, because normally, she was more the type of child that could busy themselves with running around outside rather than doing quiet things like reading or looking at books and drawing. Both twins preferred outside and sporty activities to being cooped up inside. Actually, all three Huntzberger kids enjoyed being outside and scrambling about more than staying inside, although Milo sometimes liked to read and could get engrossed in his book for hours, just like his Mom. Lori and Lucas had yet to discover that particular hobby for themselves, much to Rory’s dismay.</p><p>Lori didn’t even look up or turn around at me entering the kitchen and dining area; she just mumbled a quick greeting and continued her work.</p><p>“What’cha drawing there? May I see?” I asked, sitting across from her and smiling at the way she was furrowing her brow and sticking her little tongue out, fully focused on the picture she was putting together. In her left hand, she was clutching three crayons she wasn’t using at the moment, obviously not wanting to lay them onto the table. Altogether, she looked as if she was in one hell of a hurry to get her picture done.</p><p>Once she had grasped my request fully, though, she quickly looked up and put one arm across the picture so I wouldn’t be able to see what she was drawing.</p><p>“No!” she exclaimed and I raised an eyebrow at her. It didn’t need more than that and she hastily thought her response over. Even at four years old, she knew that a simple “No” instead of an answer wasn’t highly appreciated by Mommy and Daddy or the other adults in her life.</p><p>“Sowwy, Daddy, I hafta finish first” she added quickly and my look softened considerably.</p><p>“Aww, okay” I replied in mock hurt. “Daddy’s not even allowed to have a quick peek?”</p><p>Lori sighed dramatically at that and I couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped my lips. What a little drama queen!</p><p>She gave me a look that I couldn’t help but decipher as one of clear and barefaced suspicion. I grinned winningly at her, figuring that my Logan Huntzberger charm should be able to work on my four-year-old daughter just as good as on any other female I had encountered over the years. Tough luck. Lori shook her head with a finality that I really hadn’t anticipated and made my smile even bigger.</p><p>“I show you when I finished” she declared firmly, pursing her lips and doing a perfect imitation of her great-grandmother’s sour expression whenever the latter had to scold one of her maiden’s allegedly sloppy housework.</p><p>“That’s alright, baby girl. I cannot wait to see it once it’s finished” I answered, shooting her a look that was hopefully somewhat placating, since I really didn’t want to initiate a tantrum over something as trivial as that. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the tone she was using with me but I figured that since she wasn’t actively and deliberately mouthing off, I pinned it on her wanting to simply draw in peace and left it at that; for now, at least. I could always bring out the stern Daddy in me if she started acting haughtier than strictly necessary.</p><p>With that in mind, I slowly got up from the chair and started towards the kitchen. Since it was Rory’s “Salt Mine Saturday” as she liked to call it, it was my responsibility to get dinner ready. Usually, we always did something fun on a Saturday – going to the movies or to a playground with the children or we would visit Lorelai and Luke in Stars Hollow. However, not on a day when Rory or I had to work, obviously.</p><p>Once I arrived at the kitchen counter, I checked the clock on the opposite wall and sighed. Almost five o’clock already, which meant that I had a little over two hours to get everything ready. A quick look into the fridge told me that we were kind of running out of dinner options here – there was the already prepped and marinated roast for tomorrow night, the veggies as well as the dough that Rory needed to make dumplings to go along with the roast, but if we didn’t want to have yoghurt, celery sticks or leftover pancakes and chocolate syrup for tonight’s dinner, I either needed to go and do a food shop or order something.</p><p>Deciding to go with the clearly more favourable option, I smiled. The kids would love that. Since the last few weeks had been pretty tough on all of us because of mine and Rory’s crazy working hours, it was time for a laid-back Saturday night. “Take-out and movie night it is, then” I mumbled to myself and came to the decision that it was best if I went and got my three troublemakers assembled so they could decide on what I should order for us to eat.</p><p>I passed by Lori again on my way to the boys’ bedrooms and dropped a quick kiss on top of her golden curls.</p><p>“We’re going to order take-out for tonight’s dinner, Lori, so I’m going to go tell the boys” I told her and she looked up from her drawing project, smiling widely at me.</p><p>“Goody! I want Chi-chi…” she stammered, trying hard to find the correct word.</p><p>“Chinese?” I offered and she nodded, pleased.</p><p>“Yeah! I wanna have noodles with shrimps, Daddy!” Lori proclaimed, making me chuckle.</p><p>“Okay, so I have your pick. Let’s see what your brothers would like to have and we decide on the food that has the most votes. Now, I’m going to go upstairs and fetch the boys while you can stay here and colour until we’re back, okay?”</p><p>Lori frowned at that but nodded, immediately turning back to the picture and leaning over it with her upper half, resuming her drawing. Damn, little girl, I <em>really</em> cannot wait to see what you did there and to hear the story behind the picture, I thought, making my way upstairs and soon found myself knocking at my boys’ bedroom doors.</p><p>Not getting a response from Lucas, I opened his door a crack and wasn’t the least bit surprised to find it empty. I then opened Milo’s door that was just further down the hall and smiled lovingly at the sight that presented itself before me: Both Milo and Lucas were so engrossed in playing with one of Milo’s old LEGO sets – something that rarely ever happened these days, because, <em>honestly</em>, at twelve, Milo was far too cool to be playing with his little tad of a brother – that they hadn’t even realized my knocking.</p><p>Milo calmly explained to his little brother what he was about to build, asking for him to search for pieces whilst Lucas handed him the requested ones and occasionally looked up from where he was kneeling beside his older brother, the hero-worship being all-too evident in his features.</p><p>I leaned against the doorframe, watching them for a minute before I made my presence known.</p><p>I cleared my throat and both boys looked up at me. While Milo wore his nowadays trademark frown, Lucas matched my indulgent smile, hopped up from the floor and hurried over to me, hugging my legs.</p><p>“Why, hello, smarty! Good to see you” I greeted, ruffling his hair, looking over to Milo. “And hello, Mr. Scary Frown! Good seeing you, too.”</p><p>“Hi Dad” Milo mumbled, sounding unfazed, but I could see the small smile tugging at his lips.</p><p>“Carry me, Daddy!” Lucas demanded, jumping up and down in front of me. I looked down and gazed at him with slightly narrowed eyes. “Well, I might be able to” I replied, nodding. “But first, you’ll need to rephrase that and put the magic word in there somewhere, too.”</p><p>“Please carry me, Daddy? My legs are tiwed” Lucas begged, putting a special emphasis on the word ‘please’.</p><p>“Aw, we can’t have that now, can we?” I joked, leaning down and hoisting the little boy up and onto my hip. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you both…” I started, looking back at Milo, but never got to finish my sentence as there was a relatively loud thump followed by a crash to be heard, coming from downstairs. I acted instinctively, turning on my spot and hurrying downstairs with Lucas still in my arms and Milo hot on my heels.</p><p>“Lorelai Huntzberger, where are you?” I called upon entering the kitchen and seeing that her previous spot at the table was now abandoned. I didn’t care that my voice grew worried and got a stern edge to it almost instantly.</p><p>“Daddy, I fell!” I heard a little voice squeaking from somewhere beside me and Lucas and I looked down once more, zeroing in on my little girl sitting on the floor in between kitchen counter and kitchen island, covered with various dry baking ingredients from head to toe.</p><p>I heard Milo groan behind me at the mess and I tried hard to refrain from doing the same, although I really wanted to. Lucas didn’t say anything, he just kept clinging to me and stared at his sister with wide eyes.</p><p>I advanced upon Lori hurriedly, carefully putting Lucas down and squatting before her.</p><p>“Oh, Lori” I sighed, deciding not to comment on the mess around her. “What’s happened? How did you fall?”</p><p>Instead of an answer, Lori looked up at me with big, sapphire-blue and especially sad eyes and simultaneously burst into tears, making me and her brothers wince.</p><p>“Don’ know, Daddy” she cried as I finally hugged her to me, standing up and placing her on the kitchen island so I could check her over for any injuries and dusting off some of the flour and cocoa. “I jus’ fell and hurted myself!”</p><p>“Where are you hurt, peanut? Can you show me?” I asked, gently twisting and turning her slender arms and legs at the ankles and elbows, then checking her head and face for bumps or cuts.</p><p>“My feelings are hurt” she complained, her voice hoarse from all the squawking crying she was doing. I already knew by then that she wasn’t really hurt, mostly upset and startled, because since Rory had once explained to her that not only could one hurt various parts of their bodies, they could also get their feelings hurt, the little girl had started to use that phrase quite often and whenever she wasn’t able to explain how she felt or when she tried to get our attention.</p><p>Sighing in relief and ignoring Milo’s snort in the background, I asked: “Aw, that doesn’t sound good, baby girl. Can you tell Daddy how you got hurt?”</p><p>“No, don’ wanna. I wanna cuddles” came the reply and she stopped crying, holding out her arms to me. I complied without comment, picking her up and carrying her into the direction of the living room. When I passed by Milo and Lucas who were both watching the exchange between Lori and me with interest, I gave my oldest a pleading look. I had contemplated asking him to start cleaning the flour, sugar and the cocoa up that covered the kitchen floor, but dismissed that train of thought almost as fast as it had come. It wouldn’t exactly be fair to him to have to clean up the mess his little sister had made and anyways, making sure that we had something to eat later was more important than the kitchen being spotless again.</p><p>“Champ, do you mind taking Lucas with you to go have a look at the stash of take-away flyers Mom keeps in the drawer in the front hall…? When you two have decided, you can come back and tell me what you would like for dinner. We’re having take-out tonight” I told him, all the while rubbing Lori’s back to calm her down. I knew that something was up and that there was a little more to the whole mess in the kitchen than she wanted to admit; and to be quite honest, I already had a pretty good guess as to what had happened, but I wanted her to confirm it for me.</p><p>“Yeah, sure, Dad. We’ll be right back” Milo replied and reached out a hand for Lucas to take, giving me a brief smile, which I returned gratefully.</p><p>“Thanks, little man” I muttered and watched both boys disappear into the hall before making my way over to the sofa with Lori in my arms.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>** very mild spanking (one swat) in here **</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as I sat myself down and tried to get her to sit on my lap, she squirmed away; or rather, tried to turn herself further into my embrace, hiding her face.</p>
<p>“Lori” I admonished lightly, trying to get her to look at me. “Come on, talk to Daddy, please. How come you fell and er… got your feelings hurt?”</p>
<p>She only looked up long enough to shake her head stubbornly and cry: “Need my cuddles!” before diving back face-first into my chest. I sighed, patting her back and thinking hard about a different approach. All my kids knew that they would never get declined any comfort they needed, not by me, not by Rory; even if they were in some sort of trouble. That meant that sometimes, any form of punishment had to wait, because Rory and I both deemed it more important that our kids felt safe and secure and had the chance to calm down before we issued the consequences of unwanted behaviour. Milo, Lucas and Lori sometimes took advantage of that, of course, but that didn’t change mine or Rory’s opinion on that particular parenting chapter.</p>
<p>“Alright, we’ll snuggle until you’re ready to talk to me” I told her once I’d made up my mind, a small smile forming on my lips when I saw her satisfied grin. “Even if it takes hours and hours… we’ll just stay here, cuddle and be very, very quiet. Because we cannot run around or play or have dinner as long as my little darling girl needs her cuddles.”</p>
<p>As I had expected, she perked up at that proclamation, twisting a little until I was able to see the fierce scowl on her face. Gotcha, peanut. My smile grew wider for her and I affectionately put a hand to the back of her head, drawing her face to my chest again.</p>
<p>“Aw, we’re going to have such a nice time” I gushed happily, peeking down at her. “Just imagine, only you and Daddy. Not doing anything except cuddling. The. Whole. Evening. Doesn’t that sound fabulous?”</p>
<p>Lori made a unhappy noise and wrestled free of my hold, suddenly jumping off my lap and backing away a bit. The scowl on her little face was almost too funny, but I managed to keep my face almost neutral. Don’t snicker, not now, or she’ll eat you alive, I thought to myself while trying hard to set my lips into a firm line by biting the inside of my right cheek.</p>
<p>“What is it, Lori?” I then asked her, sounding surprised.</p>
<p>She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’ wanna cuddle no more, Daddy.”</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s fine. You don’t have to” I answered and made myself more comfortable on the sofa. I could hear both Milo and Lucas discussing tonight’s dinner in the hallway – since both of them were using their normal inside-voices and it didn’t sound as if my presence was required to dissolve any arguments, I decided to take my time to sort Lori out.</p>
<p>She was about to turn around and scamper off, no doubt being quite pleased with herself and thinking that she had gotten out of having to explain herself, when I leaned forward again and caught the back of her dress.</p>
<p>“Nuh-uh” I hummed, tugging her back gently and making her stand in front of me and between my knees. “As I was saying, you don’t have to cuddle with me if you don’t want to. But since you are done with the cuddles, you can go ahead and tell me what happened in the kitchen.”</p>
<p>For a second, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights – then, she stuck out her bottom lip and gave me her best puppy-dog-eyes.</p>
<p>Before she could say anything or wheedle her way out of it by declaring once more that she needed cuddles, I decided to start the conversation for her, but without getting straight to the point.</p>
<p>“Did you get bored drawing your picture, baby girl?” I asked genuinely, taking her small hands into mine and searching her eyes.</p>
<p>She nodded, avoiding eye contact after a moment and starting to wiggle around, which I tried to ignore.</p>
<p>“So you didn’t want to draw or colour any longer. That is perfectly understandable. You don’t have to colour if you don’t want to” I stated, still smiling at her and making sure to sound as soothing as possible. When she nodded her head again, I tried guessing: “And I suppose you got hungry after the talk we had about tonight’s dinner, maybe?”</p>
<p>At that, she stopped her wiggling movements and looked me in the face, uncertain. Then, she nodded.</p>
<p>“You can always come to me and tell me if you’re hungry, peanut. You know that” I said, reaching out and tugging one of her golden locks behind her ear. “Did you decide to go and look for a snack on your own?”</p>
<p>Rummaging around the kitchen and taking food on their own was not something we deemed naughty, but the twins had gotten into trouble before for making a mess and Milo had tried climbing onto the counters and work surface more than once when he was younger, which was dangerous and therefore strictly forbidden. Since half the baking essentials that were now on the kitchen floor came from the upper counter and shelves, I already knew that my little girl had indeed been naughty by climbing on top of the work surface. I just wanted to get the truth and the whole story from her – and since talking and asking questions in a soothing manner always worked better than demanding things, I opted for the diplomatic route. Or not.</p>
<p>“No!” she whined and that’s where I decided to change tactics. Sometimes, it was more difficult for me to be stern with Lori than with my boys, because she… well, she was my little girl and so much like her Mom regarding her character that I sometimes caved way too easily. There sure had been times when I ought to have punished her but found myself struggling, because she was looking at me with <em>those </em>eyes and made her bottom lip wobble something fierce. But it simply wasn’t fair to Milo and Lucas because they weren’t allowed to talk like that to us either, I had to remind myself and tried schooling my features into a frown.</p>
<p>“Lorelai, that’s not how you are supposed to talk to Daddy and you know it. If you don’t speak to me nicely, Daddy will give you a smack on your bum” I scolded mildly, not really thinking that I would have to follow through, but when that got yet another “No!” from her, I actually glared at her.</p>
<p>Taking her by her right upper arm and tugging her forward and halfway over my right knee, I gave her one single swat to her dress-covered bum and let her up again. The swat was only meant to get her attention and perhaps startle her a little. It probably hadn’t even stung.</p>
<p>“You do not tell Daddy no, young lady” I told her, my voice calm. “So unless you want another smack and go in time-out for five minutes, you better shape up and behave.”</p>
<p>To my surprise, she didn’t burst into tears or throw a fit like I had expected her to. Instead, she hung her head and mumbled “Sowwy, Daddy. Din’ mean to.”</p>
<p>“Apology accepted, thank you, peanut” I replied, glad and quite surprised that she had recoiled from the beginnings of a tantrum that quickly. That wasn’t common for her – or for any of the three kids. Usually, things would get worse before they got better, which meant that they would stubbornly fight tooth and nail before they would admit that they were probably in the wrong. Damn stubborn streak inherited by both their parents!</p>
<p>“Let’s get back to my earlier question, then. Did you go looking for a snack on your own?”</p>
<p>“I wanna bake a cake!” she exclaimed almost enthusiastically at that and I couldn’t help but to smirk. Lori loved to help in the kitchen and was a frequent visitor at Auntie Sookie’s kitchen at the Dragonfly Inn where both her Granny and Auntie Sookie worked. She adored baking especially, much to my and Rory’s amusement – and sometimes, frustration. We had treated her to a complete kids’ kitchen with a fake stove and fridge, lots of fake kitchen gadgets and foods for hers and Lucas’ birthday, but up to this day, she quite obviously preferred to use our real kitchen.</p>
<p>“Well, what’s our rule about baking, hm?” I asked pointedly, getting up and carrying her over back to the kitchen.</p>
<p>I placed her on top of the work surface and looked around, silently sighing at the mess as I took it in completely.</p>
<p>The boys chose this moment to re-enter the kitchen area, giving Lori the chance to refrain from answering once again, to which I groaned inwardly.</p>
<p>“Dad!” Milo called, walking up to me and presenting me a flyer of a Chinese restaurant. “Lucas and I want fried rice with mushrooms and chicken.”</p>
<p>“And we ask for things…?” I drawled, giving my oldest a look and raising an eyebrow at him.</p>
<p>“Nicely” he sighed, every bit the twelve-year-old youngster. “Can we please have fried rice with mushrooms and chicken?”</p>
<p>“Sure, buddy” I smiled at him, letting him know that we were good. “I’ll give the place a buzz as soon as Lori and I have finished getting the kitchen presentable again.”</p>
<p>At that, Lori’s eyes perked up and she shook her head vehemently. “I don’ wanna clean up! I wanna bake a cake, Daddy!”</p>
<p>I didn’t comment on that right away, instead, I turned to both Milo and Lucas and suggested: “How about you two go and play with your LEGO again? I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”</p>
<p>Milo, seeing that Lori was obviously shooting daggers at me and frowning deeply at being ignored, nodded quickly and gave me a small smile. Then, he turned to Lucas who was watching the scene and me especially with wide eyes. “Come on, Lu, let’s go upstairs. You can even help me built the big robot, if you want.”</p>
<p>“Yay!” Lucas cheered, completely forgetting about how interesting it was to watch his sister getting in trouble and already high-tailing out of the kitchen.</p>
<p>Milo and I shared another smile and he, too, left. “Thank you, kiddo!” I called after him, grateful for his mindfulness.</p>
<p>I turned back to my little girl, frowning when I saw the dirty look she was still giving me.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>** mentions of (mild) spanking in that chapter **</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“No more distractions now, Lori” I told her. “Tell me what happened in here and do it now, please.”</p><p>I gave her a rather stern look, folded my arms and watched how she squirmed around on the kitchen counter, trying to find the right words.</p><p>“I wanted to bake a cake and din’ wanna wait for you or Mommy. I wanna do it alone!”</p><p>“Are you allowed to do that?” I simply asked in response, trying to keep my tone light.</p><p>“Only if’n you are watchin’” came the grouchy reply and I nodded. “That’s right. So you already knew what you were doing was naughty.”</p><p>I let my statement hang in the air and waited for it to sink in, feeling my heart drop when I saw how pitiful she suddenly looked.</p><p>Naughty wasn’t good, naughty usually resulted in trouble – Lori wasn’t new to that and knew exactly what that meant.</p><p>“Did you climb on top of the kitchen counter to get to the ingredients?” I then asked, a slight warning in my voice that signalled that she’d better be honest with me if she knew what was good for her.</p><p>Lori dropped her gaze and nodded timidly. I went over to her and cupped her small face gently, trying to get her to look up at me.</p><p>“You know that you’re not allowed to do that, peanut. Climbing on top of the counter is dangerous, because you could fall down and get hurt” I explained. “You’re also not allowed to turn on the stove on your own or get the hand mixer by yourself. So if you want to bake something, you <em>need</em> to be watched by an adult.”</p><p>Lori was frowning once more, clearly not happy with my explanation and already starting to get restless again, so I decided to move on our talk and get to the hardest part.</p><p>“What happens when you or your brothers disobey Mommy’s and Daddy’s rules about climbing on the furniture?”</p><p>This time, she answered without hesitation, although she didn’t give me the answer I had anticipated. “Not awoued” she mumbled solemnly, letting her lower lip stick out and probably trying to sidestep my question.</p><p>“That’s true. You’re not allowed to do that” I repeated, smirking slightly at her facial expression. “And if you or your brothers do it anyway, you’re going to get in trouble.”</p><p>Her face turned from frowning and a protruding bottom lip to sheer surprise and shock – clearly, she hadn’t anticipated that and had thought she was already off the hook. Instead of giving into my urge to laugh at her antics, I remained calm and told her what was about to happen while reaching out for her, lifting her up and placing her before me on the floor.</p><p>“We’re going to clean up the mess you made and put everything back to where it belongs and the empty stuff into the trash” I clarified, turning her around and into the direction of the flour and sugar covered kitchen floor and the empty packages that lay there scattered. “I’m going to help you with the vacuuming since you cannot reach the handle as well, but the rest of the mess is all yours. You already know how to wipe up things with a wet towel.”</p><p>I could see her shoulders getting tense and the next tantrum already forming, so I decided to diminish it before she had the chance to start anything. I quickly turned her around to face me again and knelt down so I could look her in the eyes.</p><p>“Do you remember what Milo told you and Lucas about the times he climbed on top of the kitchen counter?” I asked, knowing full well that quite recently, Milo had told the story of his cookie-adventure from when he had been five years old to his brother and sister.</p><p>“He got ‘panked” she deadpanned almost instantly and I nodded firmly.</p><p>“Well, yes, he did. After Mommy and I had told him several times not to do it and he went ahead and did it anyway, he got spanked” I explained, trying to ignore the feeling of dread spreading inside of me at re-telling Milo’s encounter with the no-climbing-rule. I left out the fact that up until Milo was about ten years old, he’d been breaking this particular rule on a somewhat regular basis, at least once every year or so, because he was looking for hidden cookies or pretending he was a climbing and adventure-seeking Indiana Jones or Spiderman. I honestly still didn’t know what exactly had made it that interesting to him – up to the point where he even risked getting his little bum spanked, at that.</p><p>“Since it’s the first time you did it, though, Daddy’s not going to spank you.”</p><p>I could see that her face lit up a little at that and nearly broke into a wide smile myself, but decided against showing it. I still needed to get my point across and issue some other consequence and at least a warning.</p><p>“But” I pointed out sternly, “If I have to have another talk with you about it, you will get at least four swats on your bum. That’s your final warning, young lady. As I said, you are not allowed to climb onto the kitchen counter or other pieces of furniture – today, it was just your feelings that were hurt because you were startled, but next time, you could get hurt far worse. Mommy and Daddy don’t want that to happen.”</p><p>When she looked up once more and carefully searched my face, I did my best to hold onto my stern look for another few moments.</p><p>“As for your punishment… for the next couple of days, there won’t be any baking for you – not even with me or your Mommy” I calmly stated, watching as her small face turned into a miserable pout. She didn’t even complain or try to get me to change my mind, which indicated to me that she had truly understood how close she’d come to being in “big trouble”.</p><p>“Do you understand everything Daddy’s told you, peanut?” I then asked gently, waiting for her timid nod.</p><p>“Yeah, Daddy” she murmured with reddened cheeks and while avoiding my firm gaze.</p><p>“Very good, thanks for listening so well. C’mere, baby girl” I said, opening my arms. Lori shot me a sceptical look and briefly shook her head, obviously not ready yet to be on cuddly terms with me again. I nodded, not wanting to show her how hurt I was at her wariness. She had every right to be wary and if she didn’t want to be hugged right after being scolded, that was perfectly fine.</p><p>“That’s okay. If you change your mind and want to snuggle with Daddy for a bit, just let me know” I mumbled and sighed. “Now, how about I go and get the vacuum cleaner while you start with the floor?”</p><p>I quickly went and got a wet towel, handing it to her and pointing to the still soiled floor. I already knew that most of the cleaning would be done by me anyway, since I couldn’t very well expect a four-year-old to get it done quickly and neatly, but still I deemed it important that she was expected to initiate it. She had made the mess, so she needed to be part of the process of cleaning it up.</p><p>“Go ahead, I’ll be right back” I said. I watched as she obediently went to the task and started mopping up some of the flour, sugar and cocoa before heading into the direction of the entrance hall were we kept some cleaning essentials in a walk-in closet. I didn’t even have time to grab the vacuum cleaner before I felt two little arms sneaking around my upper legs from behind.</p><p>“Daddy?” I heard Lori’s little voice and I smiled looking down.</p><p>“Hey, sweetheart, what’s up?” I asked, as if I didn’t already know what she had on her mind. Turning around and squatting down, I didn’t even have time to fully open my arms as she was already pushing her way into my chest, almost making me tumble backwards.</p><p>“I wanna cuddles now” she declared, her voice a mixture of plea and strictness that made me chuckle.</p><p>“Of course” I replied, feeling a heavy weight being lifted off my heart and conscience and smiling widely. I placed both my arms around her and drew her to me, hugging her and breathing in the faint scent of the special kid’s strawberry shampoo Rory liked to buy for the twins and the sunscreen that I had rubbed on her and Lucas earlier.</p><p>“You’s not angwy with me?” I heard her small voice again at the crook of my neck and I shook my head slowly, not having the heart to correct her small grammar mistake.</p><p>“No, Lori, of course not. Daddy was never angry with you. I just don’t like it when you do dangerous stuff because I love you and don’t want you to get hurt” I explained patiently while still hugging her. She seemed to accept that and remained silent for a few more seconds until I felt her loosening her hold on me.</p><p>I let her go and kissed her gently on the forehead.</p><p>“You okay, peanut?” I asked, smiling at her and she nodded again, returning the smile and showing me her white baby teeth.</p><p>“Great, so let’s go and clean up the kitchen so we can get that out of the way before calling the Chinese place and order something to eat. After that, how about you help me pick out a movie for tonight?”</p><p>“I-I-I wanna watch Olaf!” she shrieked happily, making my eardrums hurt and a fake smile spread on my face. Frozen. Sure. What else? As if we hadn’t watched that flick at least a million times. But what the heck, all the kids – even Milo – loved it. And a few days ago, I caught Rory singing ‘Let it go’ in the shower, although she denied it later, of course.</p><p>“Really? Again?” I teased, using the same tone and tickling her neck a little with my fingers. She giggled and wriggled back and out of my embrace.</p><p>“Yes! It’s the bestest movie, Daddy” Lori declared, hopping up and down. She grasped my hand and pulled with all her might, getting me to stand up quickly.</p><p>“If you say so, princess” I mumbled, not really managing to keep the grimace off my face – she didn’t notice, of course. We quickly made our way back into the kitchen and I had her ‘helping’ to clean up the mess she’d made earlier (which in reality consisted more of her telling me where to clean and mop and tidy away supplies than anything else). After that, she finally showed me the picture she’d been working on before and I couldn’t help the wide smile while she enthusiastically explained how it showed our family (‘That’s Mommy, that’s Lu, that’s Milo…’) and in addition, a wobbly little patch of fur that she explained was a kitten called Lady Valerie that would come to live with us no later than next Christmas. I wisely refrained from commenting on that and just smiled when she told me that Santa <em>had</em> to bring what she wished for, because that was the rule as long as she’d been a good girl all year.</p><p>When she sat back and looked at me expectantly, I cleared my throat in amusement and told her that it was entirely up to Santa to decide on that.</p><p>“But I am a good girl, Daddy, right?” she asked rather imploringly, leaning on top of the dining room table and looking at me with wide eyes.</p><p>“The best little girl in the world” I replied instantly, reaching over and running my hand through her hair before spontaneously hugging her to me once more. I would have gladly spent the rest of the afternoon in exactly that position, but since there were some hungry mouths to feed, an important movie date to attend to later and a certain little girl already trying to wriggle out of my gentle hold again, I opened up my arms and let her go, watching how she skipped out of the kitchen with a proud smile on her face and her very artsy picture in her little hand (probably with the intention of showing it off immediately to her brothers). I smiled too, thinking about how damn lucky I was.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>The end – for now. </em>
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